Month: January 2021

Month: January 2021

New Mexico medical cannabis operator ups pressure to boost plant-count limits

Posted on by Marissa

News Brief / MJ Biz Daily
Published on January 15, 2021

New Mexico’s leading medical cannabis company is trying to compel a court to force state regulators to increase the marijuana plant-count limit, claiming the restriction has resulted in a crisis of insufficient supply and high prices in the rapidly growing market.

The lawsuit was brought by Ultra Health, which has ongoing litigation with the New Mexico Department of Health over the issue.

The latest filing, according to Law360, is that the state is violating a 2019 court order to ensure the plant-count limit is adequate and reasonable. The argument also comes as New Mexico’s Legislature is seen as increasingly likely to legalize adult-use marijuana after neighboring Arizona did so by a ballot initiative in November.

State regulators did boost the plant-count limit from 450 plants per cultivator to 1,750 in 2019, but Ultra Health argues that the amount per patient has been mostly offset by the growth of the MMJ program.

New Mexico ended 2020 with 104,655 registered patients, a 30% increase year-over-year.

The state had 34 vertical medical marijuana operators as of late 2020, and the plant-count limit is roughly equivalent to 0.5 plants per patient, sufficient for only 75,000 patients, Ultra Health says.

Ultra Health CEO Duke Rodriguez noted to Marijuana Business Daily in December that neighboring Arizona and Oklahoma don’t have plant limits and Colorado’s is equivalent to roughly nine plants per patient cardholder. Ultra Health also claims the plant count has been intentionally kept low to control the company’s expansion in the state.

Not everyone agrees plant-count limits are an issue.

William Ford, founder and chair of R. Greenleaf Organics, which has eight MMJ dispensaries in New Mexico, told MJBizDaily in December that current operators would have “no problems meeting the needs of the market” if they were using the latest technology.

New Mexico Patient Caregiver and Provider File Motion To Enforce Plant Count Lawsuit

Posted on by Marissa

New Mexico Department of Health Secretary admits to arbitrary, retaliatory motivation for new plant limit

(Santa Fe) – Nicole Sena, a medical cannabis caregiver to her young daughter with a rare form of epilepsy, and Ultra Health have reopened their lawsuit against the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) to ensure an adequate supply of medicine. 

The original lawsuit, filed in August 2016, contended the plant cap regulation promulgated by NMDOH was not in accordance with the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act, the enabling legislation for New Mexico’s Medical Cannabis Program.

In November 2018, then-District Judge David K. Thomson ruled the department’s plant cap was arbitrary, capricious, and frustrated the purpose of the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act. Sena and Ultra Health have reopened the case due to the department’s new regulation limiting adequate supply in the program.

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NEW MEXICO MEDICAL CANNABIS PROGRAM ENDS 2020 WITH RECORD 105,000 ENROLLEES

Posted on by Marissa

Patient enrollment upward momentum continues while arbitrary regulations block access to medicine

(Albuquerque) – Active patient enrollment in New Mexico’s Medical Cannabis Program reached 104,655 patients as of December 31, 2020, according to data released by the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH). This represents an increase of 24,398 patients or 30% over December 2019 enrollment. 

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New Mexico inmates’ right to medical marijuana affirmed

Posted on by Marissa

Michael Gerstein / Santa Fe New Mexican
Published on January 1, 2021

A state district judge in Albuquerque ruled this week that Bernalillo County’s Metropolitan Detention Center must allow qualifying patients access to medical marijuana, in a victory for advocates that could have far-reaching implications for jails and prisons.

It was unclear whether correctional facilities statewide would voluntarily comply with the ruling. But state Sen. Jacob Candelaria, D-Albuquerque, an attorney who represented a defendant in the DWI case that led to the decision, said he intends to send notice to jails and prisons asking them to comply.

Candelaria said the ruling issued Tuesday creates a clear precedent that patients — even those who are incarcerated — must be allowed access to medical cannabis regardless of whether they’re at home or in a prison cell.

 

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Incarcerated Patients Have A Right To Use Medical Marijuana, New Mexico Judge Rules

Posted on by Marissa

Kyle Jaeger / Marijuana Moment
Published on January 1, 2021

New Mexico judge has ruled that medical marijuana patients cannot be punished for using cannabis while incarcerated.

In a potentially precedent-setting case, District Court Judge Lucy Solimon granted a motion for declaratory judgement and petition for writ for Joe Montaño, who was penalized after correctional officers discovered marijuana in his possession while serving a 90-day sentence in home confinement.

The judge said that New Mexico’s medical cannabis law broadly protects registered patients, and those protections extend to people serving time in jails or prisons.

Continue reading “Incarcerated Patients Have A Right To Use Medical Marijuana, New Mexico Judge Rules”